Unity Station: Book 2: The Panic
by HiSpeedCarrot
Summary: SOS and the gang have landed at last. Now it's time to find their next path. But the team is slowly breaking in front of them, and the decisions are coming too fast for them to handle. With the Elders of Unity Station riding them hard, can they stick together and solve the mystery before it affects things too much and gets beyond all control? AU. Sequel to Unity Station: Book 1
1. Decisions

Hi everybody! Welcome to the sequel to When It's In Your Hands! It is pretty much required that you read the first book before you read the second one or things may be pretty confusing.

Note, please: THE PLAN HAS CHANGED. Yuu Tendo will NOT be coming back. I am sorry but it is just NOT going to work out. Don't cry! Don't hate me! Just bear with! (He's not really dead, it's just a story!)

With that 'happy' note, we can be getting back to the story.

Enjoy!

* * *

Kyouya awakens to dim lights and thin sheets. As the world swims into focus, he can just make out Zayne's voice coming to him.

"...long way."

"No kidding."

The garbled conversation floats in and out of reality until he forces his mind to be quiet a moment and let him think. He sits up, dizzy for a moment, and then grinds the heels of his hands into his eyes to wake himself up.

Zayne notices that he is awake and comes to stand beside him. "It's about time you woke up", he tells him.

"What happened?"

"We've landed at a boarding school. I can't believe the portal worked." Zayne is beaming infectiously, and Kyouya grins back. They've made it. They've really made it.

"Why did I pass out?"

"It happens a lot to travellers", Zayne says. "All that mass running through space and reassembling...it can have a tiring effect."

Kyouya tells himself to stop asking Zayne questions. The answers always make his head hurt.

"You need to get up and eat something. Think you can stand?" Kyouya nods and Zayne helps him up. They walk down the halls together.

The old-school wooden walls of the boarding school are set with big windows, open to the sunlight. Sunlight seemed a thing of the past until now. He marvels: amazing what a little time underground can do to you!

Zayne notices he has stopped in front of a window and comes to join him. Outside the window, on the lawn, high school-aged boys run after a football. Two more boys sit under a tree with notebooks, studying for class.

Here in this corner of the universe, life has gone on as normal. It seems strange and unreal. Zayne taps him. "Kyouya..."

He turns.

"Let's go, OK? It all seems strange right now. But we won't be here long."

We won't be here long? "Why not?"

Zayne shakes his head. "We need to talk to Sabrina. There's a lot to think about right now."

But when they reach the cafeteria, Sabrina isn't there. Tai waves to them cheerily from a table near the wall, where Cythia and Kevin also sit. But there is no sign of the SOS leader.

As they reach the table, Zayne gives Tai a meaningful look. She shakes her head almost imperceptibly. Kyouya is nearly too preoccupied to notice.

Kevin climbs into Cythia's lap to make room for them. Kyouya sits across from him.

"Yoya! Yoya! We beated the aliens all up!" yelled Kevin. "We leaved them all behind! We maked it!"

"I knew we would, kid", Kyouya tells him.

"I knowed it too. Eat da lunch", Kevin tells him, shoving a sandwich into his hands. Kyouya takes it gratefully and it is gone in seconds. Cythia laughs and hands him another one.

"I didn't realise I was so hungry", he says.

"Dimensional travel can have that effect on you. Kevin ate six times that much."

"I'm a little piggy", Kevin says gravely. Cythia shakes her head.

* * *

Late that evening, Zayne takes a long walk, giving himself time to think. He could cut straight across the building, but he takes the long way; even for his enhanced mind, there is a lot to consider.

What lies in their future? Where will they go?

He checks his watch. It is nearly eight. The sun outside is half-hidden by the horizon.

He passes students on their way to late classes or their dorms. Half of them will be up late studying. Through open doorways he can hear the sound of coffee pots starting up, ready to keep the students energised throughout the long night. These dorms are as busy after dark as they are in daylight.

Zayne allows his mind to pick up on the signals of the students' brains, lets himself absorb the life and sound of the dorms, but he knows he is only trying to distract himself. He can feel the gears whirring in the heads of the boys, he can feel the water boiling in the coffee pots, he can hear pencils on paper.

He doesn't know where Sabrina is staying. But he knows where to find her.

Zayne reaches the door to the study hall and walks in. A lone figure stands by the windows, made into a silhouette by the light behind her. His footsteps echo on the stone floor and the study hall seems a place suspended in time; there is light there without a source.

Sabrina turns. He can see that she knew he was coming. She always does. She possesses a sixth sense as a leader that he marvels at.

"I think you already know why I'm here", he says softly.

Of course she knows.

"Tai should be here."

"She's stressed."

"We're all stressed", she snaps, and then turns toward the window, pacing and pulling her hands through her hair. "Zhou Xing woke up."

"That's not why I'm here. You're avoiding the subject", he reminds her softly.

"I don't want to think. Luis is gone, I'm really worried about him. You know how he gets." She is babbling agitatedly.

"Sabrina."

"Not right now, Zayne. Give it a few days!"

"They're going to call us back to Unity Station any time now. We need to figure out what we're going to do once we get there."

"How about we not do anything?" Sabrina whirled. "Let them take care of the others."

"They need our help. Don't you want to be on this case?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to do, all right? Let somebody else handle this. We just saved the last humans and cat on earth. We don't need this."

Zayne is troubled by her attitude. Normally she is so calm.

"We're going to be in trouble with the Elders."

"Give it a few days", she says again. "Let them all wake. Let me think, Zayne. Don't ask me to do this right now."

He senses the agitation coming off of her, like a damp grey tang against his bare forearms, and he turns away. "What about Luis?"

"Let him come back in his own time. He needs time. We all do. Go to bed", she says.

Zayne doesn't think he can sleep tonight.


	2. Wishing

Hahahaha...*sweatdrop* eagle feather seem to be a huge them in my stories...

* * *

Two days later, everybody has awoken, except for Tsubasa. Sabrina keeps to herself and appears only at mealtimes. Luis does not appear at all. Zayne begins to worry about him.

Outside his window, rain drizzles down, soaking the earth and turning it into a fudgey mess. Tai found him tutoring sleepless students and sent him to bed. But he hasn't slept since they got here. It's not that he doesn't want to; his eyes simply will not shut.

So he lies on the bed, thinking.

Then a dark shape looms through the foggy rain outside his window. He senses it more than sees it. Jumping up, alarmed, he hears through the roar of his mind a tapping on the glass.

He forces himself to see with his eyes instead of his brain, and it takes a moment to separate them; and then he sees that it is Luis, sopping wet and scowling. Quickly he throws open the huge window and goes into the bathroom to get a towel.

Luis huddles on his carpet, wrapped in the fluffy white, which looks uncharacteristic with his long black hair and scowling face. He shakes himself with a bearish gruffle and his hair scatters water over the windowpane.

"I'll bet I'm wetter than a fish", he grumbles.

"You were outside in the rain?"

"It caught me walking back from the woods." He huffs like a grizzly. "Just at the right time, too. Everybody likes to pour stuff on me, even the sky."

Zayne laughs. "Where have you been these past few days?"

Luis has a hard time remembering in his human form what happens when he is a bear. "I don't really know. I woke up under the trees."

Zayne nods. He is used to Luis forgetting where he went.

"Sabrina's been worried about you. Why do you have to run off all the time?" Luis stands as Zayne speaks, casting away the towel. A shudder runs down his lean body and he shakes like a dog. Zayne throws his arms up to shield himself from the spray. Luis even smells like fur.

"Because I feel like it", Luis answers after he has thoroughly soaked Zayne's T-shirt. "I need to be on my own sometimes." _Because I feel so trapped in my own body._

Zayne's face is grave. He searches Luis's eyes. Luis throws up a mental wall. _Cabbage, Cabbage, Cabbage._

Zayne frowns. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" Luis bites back. "You know I don't like you in my head, Zayne." They glare at each other for a long moment and then, sensing Luis's frustration, Zayne backs off. You don't provoke an angry bear.

* * *

Madoka finds her way through the school to the infirmary. Outside, the drear drizzle has picked up and sounds a steady beat on the roof above her head. In her hand is a feather.

Tsubasa, the only traveller still deep in a coma, lost a lot back on earth. He lost Yuu. He lost his eagle. She is hoping she can remind him what he still has.

He lies, peaceful as if asleep, on the mattress of the cot. Madoka looks down at him and tears blur her eyes. She hates to see him like this.

Zayne tells them that there is chaos going on in Tsubasa's mind, that he is grieving and that he is broken. Zayne tells them that's why he's asleep. He tells them there is not danger but that if Tsubasa doesn't wake up soon, there could be complications. He does not specify further.

Yet Tsubasa breathes peacefully.

Tubes feed into his arm, giving him nutrients as he sleeps. He can't do it himself. Sometimes he moves in his sleep; sometimes he rolls over and tangles the tubes around his arm and side. It annoys the nurses, but Zayne says it's a good sign.

Madoka lays the feather on his loose palm. After a moment his fingertips twitch and tighten around it, like he knows what it is. He doesn't wake, but he cradles it; somewhere in his dormant mind, he knows it is fragile. A part of him is still with the world. This particular world, that is.

Maybe he'll come back to them soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys,

This isn't really a chapter - but I just want to let y'all know:

I may start a new book, a prequel/accompaniment, called Stories from Unity Station. It'll probably go up on FictionPress within the next month or six ahahaha -_-'

You can find me on FictionPress as Malluchan.

-Mal


	4. So long, Capri

I've been writing for Zayne a lot; because of his supernatural ability to sense and see, I'm just intrigued by the way he perceives things with his mind instead of his eyes. A bit like synaesthesia probably.

* * *

In the morning Zayne wakes and immediately feels that something is wrong. Instantly he stretches out his mind to the infirmary, and his feet hit the floorboards before he opens his eyes. But the trouble is not with Tsubasa, who still sleeps soundly.

His mind reaches out and zips through the list. Sabrina is fine. Tai is fine, Luis, and Cythia.

The trouble lies with Kyouya.

Zayne stands, stretching his arms over his head, recovering from his moment of panic, for now the alert that woke him is dying down, not as terrible as it seemed in his waking moments. He pulls his coat around his shoulders and slips his feet into his moccasins.

Padding down the hall at this early hour, for it's only 5 a.m. in this dimension, feels the sleepy almost-awareness of waking students and tastes the fresh-bread sensation of seeing sunlight. All around him people walk to breakfast, ready to get on with their day.

He finds Kyouya in the study hall, damp grey worry prickling the hairs on his forearms. Kyouya turns and is startled to find him there.

"Zayne - "

"Tobio is gone", Zayne answers. "I already know. He's not in this building."

"You looked...?"

"Trust me; he isn't here. But he's safe", adds Zayne. Tobio is now connected to his psychic field. If he was in danger, daggers would be ripping at the back of Zayne's mind. He nearly blacked out when Griffin died.

Speaking of connections...one mind that was muted to him before is wakening suddenly, fresh rain. He knows the touch of this mind, soft like balsa wood and focused like a crystal ball.

"Tsubasa is awake", he tells Kyouya. The two of them step side by side to the infirmary.

Tsubasa sits up in bed, gazing at an object in his hand. A single feather. Zayne closes his eyes and feels the fibres of the feather as if they were on his own fingertips, and then the dizzying black smell of coins, loss.

When he opens his eyes again there is a single tear running down from Tsubasa's closed eyelashes; and then he looks up and smiles.

* * *

Tsubasa joins them in the cafeteria for breakfast. All around them are students with their laptops, yellow lemon sharpness, hard work enhanced with buzzing pollinated caffeine.

Zayne shuts his eyes and feels Sabrina approaching the table. She is humming grey contained storminess, swelling muddy rivers. Stressed.

So she, too, knows that Tobio is AWOL. "I can't believe him", she tells Zayne. She knows that he knows that she knows.

"He's like Luis. He needs time to be in the world again. Remember where we just came from", Zayne says. It's not comforting to her at a time like this, but some things you want to hear and some things you need to hear. The rivers overflow.

Sabrina slaps a letter onto the table, white hot electric sparks, mad at Tobio. "I just picked this up from the Unity Station Embassy in the city."

"You just got back? Why were you out so early?" Tai demands.

Zayne felt her, inky indigo shallowness, up all night and sleepless. The rivers were oceans last night.

"I couldn't sleep", she answers simply. "Read it."

Tai takes it and reads it aloud to their small group.

_"Sent to Sabrina Notscha, leader SOS subdivision 101, September 16 at 7 am earth time, Eppaulus 9 16:36 Unity Station time. _Yesterday", Tai adds in clarification.

_"Your squad is required at Unity Station on September 20 earth time, Eppaulus 13 Unity Station time, or earlier if possible. Please do not delay._

_Signed, _

_Emerson Juliet, Elder Supreme; Caephus Danton, Elder Second; Sloane Tykus, Elder Third."_

"It's red-level correspondence", Sabrina says when Tai is finished. "They took it to Emerson. It's certainly serious." Zayne can feel Emerson's psychic fingerprint, black pinstriped clarity, staining the paper in Tai's hand. Most people don't leave such a large fingerprint behind, but Zayne can sense anything that Emerson's touched from miles away. It makes the hair all over his body stand up on high alert.

"Emerson himself handled it, not his secretary", Zayne tells Sabrina. He can feel her straighten. Then her anger bursts, burning his ears severely. He cries out and claps his hands to the sides of his head, but of course, there's nothing there.

Sabrina doesn't show that she is angry. Kevin gives Zayne a weird look, and Zayne glares at Sabrina. "Calm down, you're hurting me!"

"Your brain is so sensitive", mutters Sabrina. Her anger carries the image of Tobio with it, mad that he's gone and left them when it's time for them to go and leave. "He better be back before Eppaulus 13 or we're leaving without him."

"Who better be back?" Cythia asks, but Sabrina leaves. Zayne casts a worried glance after her. She's breaking, and it sends panic shooting like liquid nails through his veins.

"Zayne?" Cythia taps his arm, bringing him back. Her consciousness hits at his mind, freshly-opened pretzels.

He answers her question and then stands up. He needs coffee.

* * *

Two nights later, on September 19th - well, Eppaulus 12, Kyouya reminds himself - he is startled by Zayne coming in. Zayne hands him a folded note.

"Tobio sent this. Don't worry, I didn't read it, but he has a very unique psychic fingerprint. Like a stone goat."

Kyouya doesn't understand Zayne. He opens the note. _Meet me outside_, it says.

He stands, and Zayne tells him, "If you find Tobio, tell him we need him to come back. We can't leave without him."

True to his word, Tobio stands half-hidden at the edge of the field in the dusk, and Kyouya makes his way over. "Where have you been? First Luis and then you", he grumbles. "Do you get how mad Sabrina is?"

"I got the idea she wouldn't be pleased. But I need to talk to you", he says.

"So talk. But walk with me while you do. It's chilly out here."

"No", Tobio says, taking him by surprise. "You see, that's the thing. I'm not going back."

"You're...what?" Kyouya fumbles for a second, thrown off guard by this answer.

"I don't want to leave. I just got here. This is a place with some semblance of normalcy."

"Why? What's here for you to want so badly?"

"No aliens, for one thing", Tobio says, crossing his arms and leaning against a tree. "People. A city. Sunlight. Familiarity."

"You're a blader. Your beyblade won't work here. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'll find a job. But I'm stopping this before it gets too far. Alien hunting and dimensional travel...that's not the world I came from."

Kyouya laughs harshly. "I don't think you understand, Capri. We're wanted by the interdimensional alliance. They basically called us to court. They'll hunt you down, I'm sure of it."

"Tategami, you know me, and you know I don't just get _hunted down_ that easily." Tobio shakes his head. "You should stay here too. We're good; they'll never find us. Justice? Galaxies? That's not the world I need! I need a place where I know the physics and the language, not some space station! I know where you're going. I followed Sabrina to the Embassy. And I can't go...there."

"Why not?" he persists. "Once this whole mess is cleaned up, you'll be brought back, if you want. It'll be a lot less trouble for you."

Tobio shakes his head again. "Sorry. It freaks me out." He turns away. "I've said my part. I don't see how I've got any more explaining to do, so come with me or don't come after me, Tategami. Either way, I'm not staying here."

"SOS will come after you. You know that", Kyouya calls. "Once they find out what you're doing, they'll never let you leave."

Tobio throws a smirk over his shoulder. "I don't think they'll find out. I know you, and you won't tell."

Kyouya knows he's right. He tries one more time. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into!"

"I think that's you", Tobio says. And then he turns to face Kyouya, five yards away. "So long, Tategami."

"So long, Capri."

Kyouya watches until Tobio disappears behind the trees. "Good luck", he whispers.


	5. Lies and Loss

I apologise in advance for the terrible ending. I probably shouldn't read random webcomics while writing.

* * *

When Kyouya returns to the boarding school, Zayne eyes him but says nothing. Kyouya watches him warily, wondering how much Zayne can sense, and decides he will have to be careful if he is to keep Tobio's location a secret.

Sabrina calls them to meet in the cafeteria. When they arrive, she is pacing before their little cluster of tables. Kyouya notices for the first time how haggard she looks; dark circles underline her eyes and make them seem lighter than they are. Her hair is unwashed and her movements tense and tired.

"Okay. Listen up, please", she says, standing in the centre of the cluster. "I need you all to be packed and ready to leave by tomorrow at about 7 a.m. We'll eat breakfast here and head down to the Embassy to get on our way. Try to sleep as much as you can."

"You're the one who needs sleep", Tai comments quietly.

"Tai, don't...don't push me." Sabrina shakes her head. "Please, sis. We just need to get back home."

Tai watches her sister worriedly, and Cythia puts a hand on her shoulder. Kevin is already asleep in Ryuga's lap, and Kyouya figures it's about time to follow his example.

* * *

Zayne cannot find sleep.

His bare feet knead the carpet as he paces. He reaches out on instinct. When he was little, he would do this when he couldn't sleep; his parents' calm sleeping breaths would cool him down until his eyes closed and he slept at last. Old habits die hard.

Several hallways over he hits that sharp foggy clarity that flows through him like water. Tsubasa. But tonight he feels falling, falling, damp stone and the sharp smell of coins, tears.

More worry fills his head. According to Kyouya, Tsubasa's already been through grief therapy. Zayne moans in distress and claws at his hair, falling down before the window. So much is going wrong.

They got off that forsaken sphere, but that by no means ended their problems. Sabrina is breaking. Tsubasa is grieving. Tobio is gone.

_Prime, prime, prime._ His mind goes through prime numbers randomly. _2, 3, 5, 7, 11. _

101.

That's their team's number. 101. Prime. Unbeatable; unbreakable. You can't divide a prime number. But something has.

* * *

In the morning Tsubasa wakes before the alarm. He has slept in his clothes, on top of the bedspread. _Well, that's new._

He stands. All his things are packed up. World-weariness weighs on his shoulders. He's so tired.

Tsubasa rummages through his duffel bag until he finds a hairbrush. He stands in front of the mirror and brushes his hair. It has always had a calming effect on him. Others might laugh, but it works; he knows from experience.

Strand over strand, he braids it back and clasps it at the bottom. Then a memory overtakes him...Yuu, playing with the clip, slipping it over his hand like a bracelet and demanding to know why Tsubasa didn't cut his hair or put it back 'properly'. Stung, he yanks the clip out and replaces it with an elastic. He leaves the clip in his bag and heads to the cafeteria.

He doesn't want to go.

Tsubasa hates travelling through the portal; he learned this by experience. Unity Station is in another dimension, so he knows they'll have to go through the portal to get there.

But where else will he go? There's nothing here for him. At least if he stays with 101, he'll have some familiar faces.

He touches the beyblade case on his arm, and then the feather on the string around his neck. He made the necklace last night when he couldn't sleep, so he can remember Eagle. He remembers, all right.

And remembering hurts.

Sabrina paces the narrow lobby, her hair practically steaming. She looks like she's about to kill something. "You're a little early", she greets him, from behind gritted teeth.

"Sorry."

"Did you eat already?"

"I'm not hungry", he tells her quietly. She frowns. "You need to eat something. If you travel without eating, you could get sick."

Tsubasa does not move. Sabrina sighs and shakes her head. "I have other things to worry about", she murmurs.

Zayne enters. "Why are you both up so early?" Sabrina demands. Zayne gives her a flat look, and something unsaid passes between them. "Okay, fine", Sabrina relents. "I'm sorry."

"I don't really know what just happened", Tsubasa says.

"Sabrina knows that stress wakes me up", Zayne explains.

"It's not like I can help it", says Sabrina. Another look. Tsubasa doesn't ask this time. Instead, he asks, "Why are you so stressed?"

It is now his turn to get a Look. Then Sabrina softened. "I forgot you haven't really been around. Tobio's still not back. Kyouya told him to come back but he never did. We're going to have to go looking for him."

Kyouya suddenly appears, as if out of nowhere. Or maybe Tsubasa just doesn't care enough anymore to register when another person walks into the room.

"Actually, uh, Tobio took a plane", says Kyouya. "A, a plane to, to a really far place, and he needs a vacation, so he's not coming back." This all rushes out of him in a huge torrent of words. Zayne cringes as the metallic, buttery taste of a lie hits him full in the face.

Sabrina now gives Kyouya a Look. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, er, that's the truth. I got there too late and he, he had already left, and there was this letter, see, in a tree. And it had, like, flight...schedules and, stuff on it."

"Oh really. How'd he do it without papers?"

"He brought his papers. For real", Kyouya insisted.

"They don't work in this dimension", said Sabrina. "I think you're lying."

"No, what I mean is, he got them...switched, and everything, you know, at the, the Papers, the, uh, the Papers...Switching...Store."

"Kyouya? Really? Can I see the papers?"

"I burned them", Kyouya blurted.

"You burned them."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It was, it was really, really cold last night, so I, uh...I made a fire. In my room. I burned up some textbooks, and the papers."

"There is no fireplace in your room."

"I...built one, with the, uh, with the bedframe."

"Can you show me?"

"No. I burned that too, because, because I didn't have any wood."

Sabrina shakes her head. "You're lying. We need to go find Tobio."

"His plane, it crashed. In the sea", Kyouya said desperately. Sabrina squinted. "What?"

"He's dead now."

"No, Zayne would feel it if he were dead. STOP MESSING AROUND! WE NEED TO FIND HIM!" Sabrina was only about an inch away from shaking Kyouya like a soda bottle in the hands of an ignorant child.

"I'M NOT MESSING AROUND", Kyouya said, matching her in volume. A nearby girl squeaked and fled the scene.

"So where did he fly to, then!?"

"Duchcuezaelea!"

"Duchcuezaelea is sixteen dimensions over!"

"Yeah, the plane flew through a portal on accident - "

"And then drowned in the sea - "

"Yes! Yes, that's exactly what happened!"

Sabrina stands for a moment, soaked in rage so potent that even Tsubasa backs away, which is pretty amazing because he has no emotions right now.

"Fine", Sabrina says evenly. "If that's the case, we're leaving without him. I don't know what game you're trying to play, Kyouya, but I quit. It is time to be serious here and it is time to leave. We gave him 3 days and he's still gone, and I'm not keeping Aine Emerson waiting."

She turns to the small crowd of people around her. "Go eat", she says heavily. Zayne lingers for a second, worried, but she shoots him the hottest point of rage she can muster and he shrieks and runs away, burnt right in the heart by that smouldering poker.

Sabrina's rage tastes like pineapples.


	6. Arrival

Well, it's fiiiiiiiinally time to transition over from Third Earth to Unity Station! YESS! I've been waiting for this day since last year. Unity Station has been established in my head since months and months ago...

In reference to what Z says later in the chapter, Clorox dimensions are called as such because they are _bleached of all colour_. Get it!? Ahahahahaha...okay, sorry.

I don't own Clorox bleach, by the way.

* * *

Kyouya stands once again before the glowing portal, somewhat apprehensive despite the safety he knows they have here. This portal remains in the Embassy for Unity-approved travel back and forth, such as a summon from the Elders. Yet the same fear overtakes him as before: the terror of being cut in half and never again seeing light.

Sabrina steps nonchalantly through the portal. She vanishes without a sign of problem. After her step Tai, then Cythia; Luis, then Zayne; and finally Mal. Unconsciously they have gone in order of their rank on the team. Leader, second-in-command, interrogator, guardian, scientist, secretary. Briefly Kyouya wonders when Griffin would have stepped through, had he survived.

He and Ryuga exchange a look before stepping through at the same time, Kevin between them.

Unlike the last time he travelled this way - was it only a few days ago? - Kyouya keeps his eyes open, this time not braced for annihilation. He sees everything and nothing at the same time. He is everywhere and nowhere. He is everyone and nobody. His mass is concentrated into a single point immeasurable by inches or feet, shooting through a space that is all-dimensional and paradoxical: existent and yet nonexistent. And at the same time he has no mass.

Is space/non-space flashing by in a torrent of colours? Or is he blind? Can he hear everything at the same time? Or is he deaf? Is he moving at an immeasurable speed? Or is he suspended in space/non-space? Does he even exist?

It is mind-boggling. Kyouya thinks that if he were trapped here forever, his mind would become separated from his body and then he would go crazy, if he were even still alive.

And then his skin (if he still has skin) prickles like his whole body is numb, and alive at the same time; he guesses this must be what it's like to be born.

Grey walls, grey floor, odd humming sound behind him; he looks around and finds that he has landed, if he was ever airborne to begin with. For a moment he isn't sure if that moment, or hour, or millennium, actually just happened to him.

Across the room stand Sabrina and the rest of 101, fully materialised. He walks across to join them on shaky legs and wonders if his kneecaps are still there, or just nonexistent in the space between.

After only a moment, Tsubasa materialises in front of the portal, his eyes squeezed shut as tight as they can go. He doesn't move. And then Mildred's form appears behind him; she bumps into him and he stumbles several yards before regaining his balance.

Madoka and Hikaru arrive side by side, Zhou Xing directly behind them with Kenta. Last come Ryuga and Kevin. Kyouya is a bit puzzled at this; didn't they come in with him?

Ryuga looks confused too; the girls look relieved and Tsubasa just looks worn out.

"This is Unity Station", sighs Sabrina. "We're home."

_We're not home_, thinks Kyouya. But he says nothing.

"We in a rocket chip?" asked Kevin, wide-eyed.

"Something like that", Zayne tells him, letting him climb on his back.

As Kyouya walks through the station, he notices that there are no windows. When asked the reason for this, Zayne explains that they're actually miles below the surface of the planet that acts as the base for the Unity; there is nothing to see.

Doors lie open on all sides of them; most hold glowing portals. As Kyouya walks past, he can see people vanishing and appearing through them. Eventually the grey hallways give way to light blue ones. The shift in colour is subtle, but it's there. On the ceiling, where the two colours bleed into one another, a sign hangs: 'SANCTION B8-190'. Sabrina keeps walking. The hallways here slant upwards slightly. It all reminds Kyouya very much of a parking garage.

"How big is this place?" he asks.

"Unity Station, you mean? - well, the planet is about 5 times the size of earth, with levels going down all the way to the core, which is roughly half the size of earth; then there are more levels above the surface."

"You mean the station takes up the entire PLANET?"

"Well, yes. With all the dimensions in the Unity and all the things we have to keep track of, any smaller and we'd be intensely crammed. They're building upwards all the time as it is."

Kyouya goes silent with awe.

"Huge ninormous rocket chip", Kevin whispers, gazing wide-eyed all around as if this hallway alone can reveal to him the wonders of this immense place. Zayne continues.

"This dimension was optimal because, according to our current knowledge, Tylar-1, or Unity Station, is the only planet in this space system. There isn't even a sun or moon adjoining to it. As far as we can tell, the space this dimension occupies contains only about a hundred stars. When you consider that this dimension is about as large as the Milky Way Galaxy on Second Earth's dimension, that's pretty few.

"Not all dimensions operate on a spacial system, of course", he goes on. "We stopped calling them solar systems a long time ago because Tylar-1 has no sun anyways. Some dimensions are just empty white space that go on and on forever. The few colonies there never find each other because of the unending space. It would take lightyears for them to reach each other. We didn't build Unity Station on one of those because if you didn't have the exact in-dimension coordinates, you'd be lost forever, especially if you walked out of sight of your portal. And due to the circumstances, there are no coordinates on Clorox dimensions because you can't measure the space they encompass. They're like a Mandelbrot set. The further in you go, the larger it gets."

Kevin is more interested in the 'rocket chip'.

Eventually Sabrina comes to a stop. Kyouya looks around and finds that the winding hallway branches off on either side in front of a long row of elevators.

"Eene Sloane will be waiting for us at the top", Sabrina says. These are the first words she's spoken since before they left. Kyouya makes a valiant effort to remember who Sloane is; oh, yes. He is the...third elder? Something like that?

101 quickly commandeers the first empty elevator, but Zayne isn't fast enough; he slams painfully into the closing doors. "Augh", he mutters, rubbing his abused freckled face.

"The doors shut, like, half a minute before you walked into them", Zhou Xing remarks confusedly.

"Everyone's upset. Can't see half a foot in front of my face what with all the tension floating around", he mutters crankily.

He smacks into the closed doors of the second elevator as well, filled with all the other earthlings but too crammed for Kyouya to fit. Kyouya leads him safely into the next elevator so he doesn't smack into anything else.

At the top 101 and the rest wait for them. At first Kyouya doesn't notice the woman standing with them because he's too dizzy from the elevator's insane speed; then he does a double take.

Ahahahaha. He thought Sloane was a boy's name. But apparently it's a girl's name.

Sloane, Elder Third, is tall and slenderly built. Her dusky hair seems almost purple in the light, pulled back imposingly. She towers above him.

Then she smiles, and all the scariness goes away.

"One of your crew is travel-sick", she says in a deep voice. "You'll have to rest a few days before the board meeting." It is then that Kyouya notices that Tsubasa is no longer among them.

"Told him to eat something", mutters Sabrina spitefully as they follow Sloane.


	7. Grow Grow Little Worm

Hallway after hallway passes by. World after world. Each one is different. Each room has something amazing inside that nobody can see. Kyouya feels it would take several lifetimes to uncover all the wonders of Unity Station.

Then Sloane stops before an enormous iron door, with a barred window at the top. The kind you use to keep people out.

Or to keep them in.

Sloane's fingertips on a small pad quickly open the door, which slides into the wall without a sound. The corridor within is damp and silent, lined with doors. Sloane steps inside. As they traverse the dark halls, Kyouya catches a glimpse of low cots and sleeping people inside. They are wearing jumpsuits. This is a prison.

"This is where the prisoners are kept", Zayne says directly into Kyouya's ear, making him jump. "We're about to enter the most secure holding cells. Laser technology, live beasts guarding, and all kinds of other measures." He leans back, looking proud.

"Why are we going into a prison?" demands Kyouya.

Sloane answers before Zayne gets a chance to. He shrinks before her, his smarts dampened by respect and awe and maybe a little fear for this woman. "The quarters for the SOS teams are the core of the prison cells. Don't worry, they're much nicer. They're surrounded by the high-security barriers because we often keep psychic terrorists in these cells, and the barriers prevent any sort of psychic signal from entering the Core. High-level psychics like Zayne here can't sleep with psychic interference. The barrier just makes sure our teams get rested up."

Zayne blushes from hairline to collarbone at her compliment. "Oh, well, I'm not that high - "

"Yes you are", Sloane interrupts with a hint of a smile.

They go deep into the prison cells until they reach the core. The Core is completely different from the rest of Unity Station - it's like a very fancy hotel. In some places, huge aquariums make up the walls. The Core is enormous. The bedrooms are lush. Sloane leaves them for the night and Kyouya falls into a slumber deeper than space itself.

* * *

Late night, late nights. So irregular the feeding times. They cache us in the dark. They hide us. They forget to feed us, cruel people, like little pets we are to them, but pets unwanted as always.

Five, six, seven. Maybe more. Big kids and a little one. Two little ones. Could see them through the window. Green hair, yellow hair, cute and sleepy. Sleepy and cute.

But one is missing. The fast one. Griffin. Pity. Kind of neat, that one.

Late night went and came. Hour passes.

Stop stop. They stop the signals. Headset - no signals out. Big walls - no signals in. Psychics can't hear. Our world, once music; now a labyrinth of silence. Unity Station; they call it a utopia. Utopia, they say, is perfection. No. 'Utopia' means they hide from their problems, anything ugly must be hidden. Truths kept silent. That's what Utopia means.

Wrestle wrestle. Headset's tight. Waited too long. Got to get out. Signals got to get out, I'll be free again someday.

They scream for justice and freedom. Not justice when they starve us. Hide us in the dark. Silence our voices. No trials. They promised trials. They lied. 'Justice', to them, means 'hide away the uglies. Let us forget about them'. Capital punishment. Violation of human rights. But they do rights differently here.

To them, we're not human, anyway.

Wrestle wrestle. Stop start stop start must hear must hear

Head against the wall bang bang

They silence us. I'll find my voice again. They will hear this time. They will have no choice. No headsets. No walls.

Bang bang blood in my ear must hear

They pretend we are not here. Pretending is for the children. For the weak. They silence us. I'll find my voice again. They will hear this time. They will have no choice. No headsets. No walls.

Bang Bang

Crack

Boom

Noise floods out. They will hear. I am speaking now.

Step step. Step step. Guard. Late in the night. Only now they feed us. They forget us. They silence us. I'll find my voice again. They will hear this time. They will have no choice. No headsets. No walls.

Food through the slot.

They forget the slot. They think their little headsets protect them. I broke it. It cracked. So easy. So easy. They try their little tricks. They fail.

I send a tendril out. Little worm, do my work. I feel the guard. Not the guard; he has a headset. No signals in, no signals out. They cannot even trust their own. Farther down the hall. Harder. Headset still barring a little. Last chance.

There a footstep a being. Unfamiliar.

Eagles.

I smell eagles. He is of the sky.

He is drenched in mourning. Sad. Dark. Like me. This is the one. Scour all the station and never find one more perfect. So alone, so buried deep, already half dead. Dog tired. Alone. This is their fault. If not for them I would not be so hateful. They silence us. I'll find my voice again. They will hear this time. They will have no choice. No headsets. No walls. No second chances.

Slip in right behind the ear. He used to have a strong mind. Its walls are gone now. He will do well for me. He will do my work. I will feed. I will grow. And then I will have my voice again. They silence us. I'll find my voice again. They will hear this time. They will have no choice. No headsets. No walls. No mercy.

He will go to the core where the rest sleep. I will feed. He will feed me. I will be free again. No headsets. No walls.

Grow grow little worm. It's time.


	8. Mantra

Grow grow little worm grow grow

* * *

_Tsubasa_

* * *

I didn't get to the core until late last night. Something happened. I think I ate too little before going to the portal. I got held in the medical sector for a bit too long. But I wasn't hungry. They didn't listen.

I sigh. I run a hand through my hair. More and more over the night, I wished I had taken off like Tobio. Nobody asked questions when they disappeared. They let him go. Then I could just forget, I guess. Start over. I wonder if amnesia is actually a thing.

When I washed my hair this morning, I felt a swelling behind my right ear. I lean towards the mirror, probing it. It feels a little sore. Maybe I have a swollen gland in back of my ear or something. I make a mental note to ask Zayne.

The shampoo they have here is all flowery. Nothing masculine. Another mental note: ask for better-smelling shampoo.

My mind is wandering unusually this morning. I normally focus better. I need some coffee, probably some food, time to be alone.

* * *

Slow. Grow. Glow. Grow grow little worm it's time to grow

* * *

Kyouya walks out of the spare bedroom he slept in to find the rest of the team in the common room or living room between the bedrooms. It looks exactly the same. Funny that Unity Station doesn't even bother to simulate the sun. The same gloomy, elegant light fell over the place now as had been there last night. Idly, he wonders what would happen if their computers and clocks all went offline. How would they possibly keep track of the time? Does time even pass here?

He supposes, after all he's seen, that anything is possible.

"What are you all doing out here?" he asks tiredly.

"The Council 3rd Circle scheduled a meeting today", says Sabrina. "They're basically one of the Unity Station courts. They need to see us so we can give a full report on what we've seen and determine the best course of action."

Ryuga looks down at the kid beside him. "What about Kevin?"

"He needs to come too", says Zayne gently. "They need every possible witness."

"He's just a kid", Ryuga argues. "He doesn't need to relive all this."

"I'm not little", Kevin protests.

Ryuga and Zayne continue to argue over his head. "He may have seen something the rest of us didn't."

"Like what!? He's SIX, Zayne. What do you think he could possible know!?"

"Six is big", Kevin whines.

"Oh, and what do you propose we do with him?"

"We're on a rock 3 times the size of Earth. You've got to have a daycare somewhere", Ryuga snaps.

Cythia looks really upset. Her head snaps back and forth between the two men like she is a spectator at an intense tennis game.

Finally Sabrina shoots Zayne a look that sends him yelping and hopping out of the way. Kyouya guesses she's shot some sort of frustrated emotion towards him. "Enough", she says firmly. "Kevin is coming. If you have a problem with it, you're just going to have to deal. It's _one day," _she snarls. "Telling his story is not going to damage him anymore than living it has."

"I'm a big boy", Kevin says poutily.

"Yeah, I know, Kevin." Ryuga sighs. "Just stick by me, OK?"

"'Kay", Kevin says trustingly. Kyouya feels a pang of sympathy suddenly for Tsubasa, who stands not far from the two of them. He must miss Yuu so much. It's that brotherhood that, when broken, causes the most pain.

* * *

Grow grow little worm. Bigger now. Hide.

Hide him beneath the music. Grow grow little worm. Do my work.

* * *

Zayne shoots Tsubasa a sidelong glance as they go down the hall. He seems off today. Zayne is sure nobody else notices. It's not Tsubasa's face or demeanour that's off. It's his music.

When Zayne sidles his consciousness up to Tsubasa's, he comes up against the same. Hot pine. Soft wood. Green trees. Flight feathers. And of course, the pain, underneath it all. It's to be expected. But the music -

Everybody has their music. Little notes that make up a song and stir up the consciousness. Each one is unique. Tsubasa is no exception. But today. The crescendo.

Zayne shuts his eyes. Yes. There it is. He's almost sure. Instead of a C, it's a C-sharp. Not that big of a difference. But it's there.

He watches Tsubasa for a long time until Tsubasa turns to him and gives him a strange look. But even after he turns away, Zayne still listens.

The interrogation begins. They go in one by one. Ryuga refuses to let Kevin go without him.

"Hi", says Kevin cheerfully to Colonel Ridley, the man conducting the investigation. Sabrina explains that he is one of Elder Sloane's most trusted friends.

"Hello, young man", says Ridley cheerfully. "How are you today?"

Kevin contemplates the question for a long time, then: "Are you seriously wanting to know, or are you just being nice?"

"Well, son, I want the truth. I can take it." Ridley winks.

"Actually, I'm having a good day. I woke up tired but I got over it. Also cream cheese is ruining my life. But other than that I think I'm OK."

Ridley is red in the face from trying to hold in laughter. "And what do you have against the cream cheese, son?"

"It sat in the fridge too long. It got all crumbly around the edges", Kevin explains. Then, confidentially leaning over the table: "There was a piece in the shape of Yuga's head, but he won't admit it."

Ridley nods seriously. "I see. Well, let's get down to business. Can you tell me what happened back on earth?"

"Well...I was born, Mr. Ridley. Then I lived for awhile. And now I'm here."

"Yes, I know that, but what I want to know is anything strange that happened."

"Uhhh...Oh yeah! One time I found a snail shell in my room! There were ants inside of it. I think they ate the dead snail. One of them bit me."

Ridley clasps his hands together on the table and leans forward. "Tell me about Benkei, all right? Let's start there."

"We don't talk about him anymore", says Kevin gravely. "He got demoted."

"Cremated", Ryuga corrects.

"...and they never found him again", whispers Kevin in an ominous voice. A second later: "BOO!"

Ridley actually jumps.

Zayne is the first to fall over laughing. He has been narrating the entire interrogation by reading the thoughtwaves emanating from the room. Cythia quickly follows.

"Okay, kiddo." Ridley tries one more time. "What I need to know is what happened with the aliens."

"They ate Gingka's dad. I am sure they regretted that", said Kevin.

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Fiery indigestion", Kevin explained. He had learned this from a Pepto-Bismol commercial. Ridley gives up at last, and Ryuga stumbles out of the room and collapses against the wall, laughing until his ribs ache.

* * *

Laughter stirs me. Smile. Yes. Glow little worm. Feed. Grow grow. Slowly but surely. Closer. No walls. No headsets. Grow grow little worm. It's time.


	9. Behind Glass

_Tsubasa_

* * *

Music fills the space behind my shinbones. It shouldn't be right. I don't know. I think I'm depressed.

Jazz rattles my skull and bounces inside my lungs.

I didn't know jazz could hurt so much.

Where is the sound button? I can't find it on the radio in the hall. I can't turn it off. I just want quiet.

* * *

Day five day five. It's been five days. Everything is fuel. Everything is fuel. Grow worm glow worm slow grow glow slow worm, it's time, no walls, no headsets no mercy

* * *

Zayne stands behind the piano with his eyes closed. He can't play to save his life. But Mal can.

"A little higher. One more note."

He is guiding her hands by ear. He needs to hear Tsubasa's tune again. Since five days ago, the crescendo hasn't come up, no matter how much Zayne follows him around.

Mal hits the right note, and it sparks in Zayne's psychic field like a spoon against a glass. Crystal clear note. It rings in his head and he whirls drunkenly, leaning against the piano, struck by the clarity of it all. That same tune. It's always disorientating to hear a psychic tune played in real life on the piano. But it can be vital to an investigation.

"I don't know, Mal. I'm certain I heard an altercation."

"You've never exactly been the most musically gifted, Zayne", she points out with a hint of a smile.

"I know what I hear when it comes to psychic signatures, and something was up", he insists.

"It could be the depression, you know. You always complain that so many chaconnes come up when these things happen."

"It's just the one note."

Mal shrugs. "I don't know much about psychic signatures, Zayne, but it seems like it's just the depression. He's handling it surprisingly well. I don't think you have much reason to be worried. I mean, keep watching him if it makes you feel better, but there's no real reason to take action yet."

Zayne lets out his breath in an agitated puff and paces the carpet worriedly. "It's like there's too much there for me to ignore, but not enough for me to do something about."

Mal pats his arm comfortingly. "Keep an eye out, OK? See if you hear it again and then you can figure out what to do."

"OK." Zayne nods, trying to convince himself.

He follows Tsubasa for the rest of the day. Tsubasa wanders aimlessly. He seems so lost lately.

* * *

Come come. Stronger now. Got to see my little worm. Little glowworm, come to mama...

* * *

"Do you need help or anything?" Zayne asks Tsubasa tentatively.

"Help? With...what?"

"I mean, like, maybe therapy or something. You seem really upset about Yuu still."

"I received psychological help back on Earth. I think I'm OK", Tsubasa says in a resigned voice.

"Your psychic fingerprint is telling me otherwise. Are you sure you don't want to talk to somebody?"

Tsubasa regards him with blank eyes.

"OK, OK, I was just asking, all right? We all worry about you, you know."

Tsubasa sighs. "Yeah, I know. I wish you wouldn't, though."

He has taken to wandering the holding cells. He never stops at a particular one, but he often circles the wall of cells outside the Core, around and around for hours at a time.

Today he stops.

There is a single cell in the Core Wall that sits on its own. Its barriers are thicker. Its guards are stronger. It sits down a long corridor and has a single bulletproof glass pane set in the side of it. It is the only cell in the Core Wall that nobody ever visits. That is the hallway he chooses. And Zayne follows.

The girl inside sits silent and hollow. She stares out the glass pane, her eyes fixed on Tsubasa unmovingly.

"Who is she?" he asks, his gazed trained solely on her as well.

"That's Kazhi. She's one of the worst psychic terrorists we ever knew in the Termination Act a few years back. It took forever to apprehend her." Zayne peers through the glass. "Huh. It seems like her headset barrier is cracked. I better report that. She probably fell against the wall; it's happened before."

"Headset barrier? How does that work?"

"Well, the wall prevent signals from coming in, but if a guard were to open the hatch here to bring in rations, psychic strands could escape. The headset stops outward signals, and the wall stop incoming signals. It's a failsafe. The headset has a laser attached to either side that meets through the head, so if the wearer attempts to remove it, it will hurt a lot. It can only be unlocked by the elders. But sometimes the outer casings crack. I think Kazhi's been wearing that one since she was admitted." Zayne picks up the commlink from his belt and makes a quick call in to the security ring.

When he turns back, Tsubasa's eyes are still glued to the glass.

"Did she ever have a trial?" he asks suddenly.

"Uh, well, there was so much psychic evidence we found that we couldn't really ignore it. And if she were allowed a trial, she could have manipulated the minds of the judges."

"Couldn't she have just worn one of those headset things?"

"Look, we don't really go by the same court of justice that earth did, all right? Dealing with psychic terrorism is, it's, well, a very delicate thing."

"What definition do you have of terrorism?"

"Huh..? Well, she basically rebuilt or broke people's minds, rewired them in a sense, to keep them under her control and eventually gain control of the entire station. Accomplishing that would...it would put a great many civilisations in danger."

"Well I think - "

"Listen, why do you care so much?" Zayne blurts suddenly. "Um, I mean, you've never really shown interest in this before. What's so intriguing about it now?"

Tsubasa is silent for a very long time.

"I don't know", he says finally, still gazing through the window.

"Hey, uh, if it makes you feel any better? There were absolutely no defending witnesses, uh, nobody misses her, OK? She pleaded guilty in the first place. I mean, not that there was a trial, but she openly admitted to it. And, well...you know what, Tsubasa, I have to say, I really don't agree with the way they deal with some of these more severe crimes. The truth is, Unity Station strives to look like a utopia, but that's really something that can never be found because somebody will always be unhappy, and, uh, the little guy gets overlooked a lot. It, it can make a lot of things worse, and the 'little guy' tends to be the one who becomes a threat in the end. But I'm not in charge of the judicious system around here, but if I were, I would give everyone in the Core Wall a trial, OK? Does...does that help?"

"I guess", he mutters, leaning his forehead against the glass. A guard comes in with a newer headset to replace Kazhi's old one. Zayne and Tsubasa leave. But Zayne doesn't like the way Kazhi's eyes follow Tsubasa as the walk out, or the way there is an F-sharp where an F had been before.

* * *

Shine glowworm. Find the tune. Pretty boy he is, long hair, sad eyes. He has an eagle feather. Nice bird. Very nice. This time the worm will eat the bird. Shine glowworm glow. Do my work. No headsets. No walls. Not much longer now. I've found my voice, and nothing can stop me.


	10. Blockades

Hey, if anyone's interested, Stories from Unity Station has finally gone up on FictionPress ^^ It's only got one chapter, about one of the feline operative bases on 1st Earth. But if you want to read it, I hope you enjoy it :)

It seems Kazhi grows more eloquent with each cell of Tsubasa's brain she takes over. I wonder what will happen ;)

* * *

Every hour that SOS 101 spent in limbo between court and life was spent on the edge, waiting, stressed. They were supposed to have a court meeting sometime soon about the condition of Earth and what to do next, but the council kept putting it off. Sabrina was very irritated and snapped at anyone who got within 10 feet of her. This upset Zayne, but his psychic senses were attuned to Tsubasa day and night. No matter what, even at night, he listened. As a result, he got very little sleep. The outer walls of the Core prevented psychic signals, but the walls between the bedrooms did not.

In that time, Zayne did not hear a single altercation. He was getting increasingly frustrated. The sweeping violin notes had bent around themselves when Tsubasa was near Kazhi. But there was absolutely no way the headsets would have allowed that interference through. Besides the fact that there was a blocking wall between them, the headsets had an inner layer. Only the casing had been cracked, not the inner blocking mechanisms. Zayne immediately dismissed the happening as a coincidence.

Mal insisted that he worried too much and that he should at least get some sleep. Zayne finally listened and crashed on the couch in the common room, sleeping so deeply that he didn't dream.

* * *

Little watcher. Silent listener. Zayne. He watches all day and all night, in the dark, while the others sleep. Mustn't let him catch the little glowworm, or there goes the chance - bang bang, one more headset broken, and they will catch on. They are careless, but not idiotic.

Come on little glowworm. The guard dog sleeps. The castle is unguarded. It's time to go.

* * *

_Tsubasa_

* * *

I peek out from around the doorframe and see Zayne sleeping on the couch. He's snoring so loud. It's almost funny, but I'm so tired; nothing makes me want to laugh right now.

The whole team is in tension right now. I can just about feel it in the pit of my stomach.

Something is drawing me to the prison cells. That girl...the music filling my lungs eases when I pass by that cell. I rub at my ribcage. There's a nerve right against my bottom rib that won't stop twitching at random intervals. It aches.

Cell after cell passes by. There's no specific route in my head; my feet know where to go. It's a bit strange, since I've only been there once.

As I enter the outer hall, I feel that chilly calm. Like drowning. Normally it would be scary, but it sends a peace coursing through my heartstrings that I haven't felt before. The twitching stops. The music slows.

Her eyes watch me, deep, heart-stopping bottomless pits. There's nothing inside, no glow, no life, but it sparks something in the back of my ear. Like a vine coming to the sunlight. When my fingertips hit the glass, electricity courses through them.

My fingers find the bronze-rimmed slot in the door without telling me, bigger than a mail slot, but swingy and hinged just the same. I poke them through up to the last knuckles.

* * *

Pretty fingers, long and strong. The kind you hold on to and don't let go of. Little glowworm's not all that bad-looking. Fingers through the slot, search search. I touch them. My hands are so cold.

Humans - their skin so warm. Warm-blooded. My kind are cold-blooded, like lizards, snakey things that people scream at and smash with their boots, shoot with a rifle. And poison just as strong.

I take his warm. I need it more than he does. With every breath my voice is clearer. Every cell I take from his mind will fuel my little project. Metamorphosis. Like a moth. Pale creatures of the night that nobody sees. Brushed away like so much dust. But with a storm of them, you have less of a chance.

Holes in my mind fill all up with warm hot earth. His thoughts fuel mine that they took with their headsets and walls. Those holes. There are cracks in everything, that's where the light comes in. But those cracks don't have to be mine. No light. I am a creature of the dark. That's where they want me, that's where I'll be. Children dead in the womb, fissures under innocent villages, here one day and gone the next, oil killing the sea creatures. This world is full of holes. But they don't have to be mine - not anymore.

Little glowworm has grown. His mind is less his own and more of mine. Words and thoughts come easier. This old headset can't block much longer. When your mind is outside your head they can't find it. He'll walk unsuspected.

But that watchdog has sharp ears and a temper. His eyes perk up at every little move. No breeze goes by unnoticed, and with it the scent of secrets. If one will find it, it is him. These notes are not enough. I cannot play them forever.

There are problems to every plan. Blockades. You can choose to go over under through. Climbing for the hurried. Burrowing for the crafty. Explosions for the strong. Or you let them sit. Take a different way. Avoiding is for the runners. It's time to be strong. It's time to go through.

A knife in the drawer of the kitchen missing, fragile necks. A ceiling caving in. Tragic oven fires and unexplained disappearances. There are so many ways to go through a blockade. So many types of explosives. You just have to choose the right one.


End file.
